Avengers vs X-Men suffers from the same problem that almost any miniseries about the X-Men suffers from: a ridiculously complex continuity. Almost every comic book I've ever read, as soon as the X-Men get involved with it, it becomes just a complete mess of references to previous stories and characters you've never met. I'm sure die-hard X-Men fans have no problem with this, but as a pretty casual reader of comic books, I've found it nearly impossible to understand what the hell is happening in any X-Men comic.

At various points throughout this miniseries, I found myself asking lots of questions such as "why is Colossus wearing Juggernaut's helmet now?" and "what the hell did Scarlet Witch do to destroy mutants that has basically the entire Marvel universe so pissed off at her?" and "who is Hope Summers and why does she think she's been preparing to become The Phoenix all her life?" and "why is there a Red Hulk and a Green Hulk?" and "why is Namor an X-Man now?" and "when did Storm marry Black Panther?" and "why does the moon have an earth-like section of it with an atmosphere" and "why is Wolverine in charge of the school for mutants now?" and "where did Professor X go and why does he show up all of a sudden so late in this?" and "what the heck is Utopia?" and "who is Magik?". This list actually goes on and on, though I worry that many of these questions simply betray how out of touch I am with the Marvel Universe. I don't follow the comics, I just pick up complete mini-series and trade paperbacks every so often, and I generally find the DC paperbacks much most self-contained and easier to follow than the Marvel ones.

Anyway, as a casual comic fan, I really needed to read this with Wikipedia handy. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of picking up to bring on a vacation where I had no internet access, so I found it mostly to be a confusing mess. A hundred billion characters, all thrown together with little explanation of who they are and what their purpose is. Compare this to, say, the Days of Future Past mini-series, where Cyclops explains in one panel that his power is "optic blasts" and you get a sense for how much Marvel has changed its attitude in terms of willingness to alienate casual readers over the years. When the second page of every book in the series has to have a map of who everyone is, what side of the fight they are on, and where they are located in the universe at the moment, it might be an indication that your "mega crossover event" is overly ambitious.

In any case, the book is pretty dumb overall. It's set up like some kind of "no right or wrong" war between the Avengers and the X-Men, with various issues having "I'm with the Avengers!" or "I'm with the X-Men" variants, but it's pretty quickly made clear that the X-Men are completely in the wrong, especially once their leadership are inhabited by the Phoenix Force and basically start acting like power-hungry crazies. Most of the panels are just characters beating the living fuck out of each other or extremely confusing dialogue between characters that reference the almost hilariously convoluted Marvel Universe continuity. Time to push the reset button guys.

I could really only recommend this book for a die-hard Marvel comics wonk who knows the ins and outs of the insane backstory (I'm pretty sure Captain America in this series was actually Bucky, but I don't actually know, which says it all right there). But anyone who is that familiar has probably already read it, so who was this for, really? Mostly lame, lots of pummeling with extremely large text saying things like "KRA-KOOOOOM" and not much else going on. ( )

The title "Avengers vs. X-Men" alone brings to mind many ideas and debates about who would win a contest, especially in light of how some have moved from one time to another over the course of Marvel history. The epic event "Avengers vs. X-Men" is the result not only of recent events in the Marvel Universe but over the whole course of the Marvel Universe and how each side interrupts the advent of the Phoenix Force upon the Earth.

Overall the story is coherent through the entire saga, though there are several rough patches that disrupt things from time to time. The custody of Hope Summers, the Mutant Messiah, and future host of the Phoenix Force is the trigger the conflict between the two teams. But things only get interesting when Tony Stark seeking a scientific way to stop the Force instead makes things worse by splitting it into five pieces that inhabit five different X-Men. The mistrust of the Phoenix Five's work and intentions followed by the mistrust of the Five of non-mutants is a recipe for disaster that the darkening effect of the Phoenix Force uses to its advantage to become whole.

Those not versed in all the recent events of the Marvel Universe up to the start of Avengers vs. X-Men won't be lost as the writers deftly put in hints without going into just plain dumping information on the reader. The subtly of the Dark Phoenix, actions of others to cause conflict between members of the Five, and the mistrust of the Five amongst themselves over time was a wonderful subplot upon looking back upon the story. The action and battles are drawn wonderfully, however they come at the cost of character development especially when it comes to the root cause of the conflict as well as the ultimate solution, Hope, who disappears the scene or is in the background for a large portion of the middle third of the story. In addition, the mistrust of the X-Men to the Five resulting in them aligning with the Avengers is alluded to but not seen which hurt the concluding chapters of the saga.

Even with some story missteps, the overall work of "Avengers vs. X-Men" is very good and a delight to read. ( )

I approached AvX with caution since the reviews were all over the place. I was expecting it anotehr Civil War - heroes fighting heroes over a difference in ideology. While there is some of that, this had a surprising depth to it that elevated the story. The hardcover collection has the main event, including the Marvel Point-One, the AVX: Versus issues (hero on hero battles) and issues from the AVX: Infinite (adapted from the digital platform). It is definitely worth the price, especially discounted.

The Phoenix Force is returning to Earth and everyone assumes it is coming for Hope Summers, the only mutant born after the Scarlet Witch decimated the mutant population. The Avengers want to isolate and prevent Hope from being taken by the Phoenix (of course Wolverine has a more permanent solution in mind!). Scott Summers thinks that Hope is the mutant messiah and the Phoenix will give her the ability to return what was lost to mutants. What makes the story so good is that both sides not only have valid viewpoints but are emotionally invested in the outcome. The X-Men have been persecuted since mutants became known and the Avengers have done little to help them. On the other hand, Scott is gambling the lives of the entire world that Hope will be able to do what Jean Grey could not - control the Phoenix. When the Phoenix arrives, Tony Stark unleashes an experimental weapon that splits the Phoenix into five hosts, one of whom is Scott. The power of the Phoenix combined with his zealotry to "save" his people will eat away at his humanity, with devastating results.

Where the story strays a bit is with the "versus" aspect of the event. The writers want to give readers those epic match-ups, so they work them into the story by having the various confrontations occur as the two sides search the world for the runaway Hope. It felt contrived, but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun. The main event gives glimpses of the fights, but it is the AVX: Versus section that expands the battles in full. It includes: Magneto vs Iron Man; Thing vs Namor; Captain America vs Gambit; Spider-man vs Colossus; Thing vs Colossus; Black Widow vs Magik; Daredevil vs Psyloche; Thor vs Phoenix Emma Frost; Hawkeye vs Angel; Storm vs Black Panther (what a divorce!); and, Hope vs Scarlet Witch. These were followed by some "quick" fights of just a page or two of match-ups not hinted at in the main event storyline. Not every fight ended how readers might expect, and they were all reminiscent of video fighting games. Each fight included witty "AVX Fun Facts" such as "Black Panther has lots of plans" and "Demons are real." Some of the facts related to the powers of the character, but all were fun and added a lot to the story.

The final, short section was the Infinite part. I could not tell this was adapted from a digital platform (having never seen the Marvel app) so other readers shouldn't have a problem. It mostly expanded on Nova's journey to Earth and was very interesting since I know little about his character.

Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by the AVX crossover and the way it concluded, setting up the site-wide Marvel Now launch. Though not as good as Civil War or Siege, I thought AVX was better than Secret Invasion or even Fear Itself. I can't wait to read the Avengers vs. X-Men Companion with all the tie-ins. My only disappointment is that the hardcover edition does not have the sewn binding that most Marvel omnibuses have. The glued binding just won't hold up to rereading. Never-the-less, highly recommended! ( )

Increasingly, the main series in these Marvel events serve as mere précises, resumes of the results of all the stuff that happens in the side series (and interstices!). This one had too many characters in it, and the "struggling with the evil within" stuff seemed perfunctory, and I dunno, it's been only a few days since I read it but already all i really remember is that I liked Cyclops's phoenix-bird-beak visor. That's the point we've reached with these, where you know the explosions and deaths and new status quo are meaningless and all that's really interesting is the character redesigns. ( )

Wikipedia in English

The Avengers and the X-Men - the two most popular super-hero teams in history - go to war! This landmark pop-culture event brings together Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Magneto and more in the story that changes them forever! And in AVX: Vs., experience the larger-than-life battles too big for any other comic to contain! Iron Man vs. Magneto! Spider-Man vs. Colossus! Captain America vs. Gambit! And more! Plus: For the first time ever in print, Marvel's groundbreaking Infinite Comics are collected, revealing key events through the eyes of Marvel's major players. It's Marvel's biggest event ever - but will the Avengers or the X-Men emerge triumphant? Collecting Avengers vs. X-Men 0-12, Point One (AVX story), AVX: VS 1-6, Avengers vs. X-Men: Infinite 1, 6, 10. Each collection includes a code for a free digital copy available exclusively through the Marvel Comics App!

"4 Stars (out of 4)" - CBR"It's a rare thing for a much-hyped event book to get so much right" - Newsarama"Epic." -Inside Pulse"It's a superhero blockbuster" - Maxim.com

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:18:34 -0400)

▾Library descriptions

"The world-destroying Phoenix Force is back -- and this time, the Avengers are intent on stopping it. Cyclops and his X-Men have other ideas. To Captain America, the Phoenix threatens doom. To Cyclops, it could mean slavation. Marvel's two greatest leaders wage war, with the Phoenix's chosen host -- Hope Summers -- caught in the middle. As the fate of a girl trained from birth to be a mutant savior hangs in the balance, how far are Captain America and Cyclops willing to go? The answer lies in a battle so big no one world -- no one series -- could contain it!" --Provided by publisher.… (more)